Will Obama win over Pennsylvanians?
Mayhill Fowler provides a great look at the characteristics and culture of the Keystone State and provides some extra advice to Obama, who she obviously supports. What’s oddest is how her commentors make all kinds of assumptions about her motives and fine storytelling abilities.
In addition to some Obama fans thinking she’s attacking him, some take offense at her critique of Californians, entirely missing her point. Which is there’s an understandable distrust of politicians and some logic to the biases in both PA and CA. But she emphasizes the positives of both above the negatives. And it seems she feels the challenge is not about uniting the Democratic party but uniting the country to work together again, in spite of state and regional differences.
Americans who’ve travelled little within the country, or restricted their travel to flyovers and interstate drive throughs, really don’t understand each other or appreciate each other enough.
As one who’s gone the blue highway route, I can say there’s a lot to enjoy most everywhere in the peoples and their doins’. Some areas provide some sadness, like MS/LA Delta country or Appalachian miner towns, but even there, there’s a lot of method and magic in their madness. And many can be motivated to pull together despite the differences and annoying traits the people in one region find in people from the other.
The right no-bullshit appeal in pursuit of the common interests of most could surpass the predictions of astute prognosticators. It’s clear Fowler thinks Obama’s awfully close to crafting that appeal. If she’s right, Obama could pull off the biggest upset of his campaign
And for the first time, though the odds remain high against, I think Obama has a real chance to win PA.
April 11th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
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April 11th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
[…] After the the publication of the Mayhill Fowler post I referred to in my earlier post, Team McCain viewed Obama’s comments about Pennsylvanians to a California audience as condescending and out of touch. And fired off a critique. […]
April 11th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
from swimming freestyle:
“Barack Obama is a remarkably eloquent man and turning into a remarkably capable politician. But if the Senator believes it’s smart to insult voters from a state critical to your success, he’s hit one of the worst false notes yet in his campaign.
Yeah, I know what his campaign said, and that may have been what he meant. But a sophisticated candidate doesn’t refer to voters in language that can be construed as derogatory or insulting. Obama asserted Pennsylvania voters are bitter and so simple and lacking in maturity and intelligence that they address their frustration by clinging to primitive and reactionary crutches rather than addressing their problems in constructive ways.
It’s divisive. And not the way to attract the voters you need most.”
http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com